Isnt it generally accepted those japanese ps5s are being shipped out the country?
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Famitsu sales week 45 of 2021: Nintendo Switch OLED stock dried up and COD Vanguard flopped hard.
IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Japan seem to have turned away from traditional home consoles and have turned to portable.
If Sony or Microsoft wants to be successful in Japan then they should release a portable device.
It'll be interesting to see if the Steam Deck takes off in Japan.
Bernd Lauert
Banned
Microsoft's strategy is to go streaming. Streaming is innately mobile so it's a good idea imo. And I assume if you live in Tokyo or any other big city, you have good connectivity and high speeds (especially soon with 5G).
For those believing PS5 physical sales are so low due to japanese buying the PS4 version instead, have a look at the complete (not just top 30) package sales for the first half of the fiscal year (29/03-26/09) from Famitsu:
NSW: 8.238.535 (previous year H1: 9.101.669)
PS4: 1.806.817 (previous year H1: 4.091.877)
PS5: 416.755 (previous year H1: -)
Package software sales are collapsing for the whole PlayStation ecosystem due to sales sharply declining on PS4 and PS5 unable to picking up the slack.
PS5 tie ratio with physical software sales remains well below 1 at the end of September 2021.
NSW: 8.238.535 (previous year H1: 9.101.669)
PS4: 1.806.817 (previous year H1: 4.091.877)
PS5: 416.755 (previous year H1: -)
Package software sales are collapsing for the whole PlayStation ecosystem due to sales sharply declining on PS4 and PS5 unable to picking up the slack.
PS5 tie ratio with physical software sales remains well below 1 at the end of September 2021.
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Max Payne’s Baretta
Banned
Software and form factor likely playing a huge role.
Team Andromeda
Member
We're on about Japan and despite trying to bring the UK into it. We know Japan sales charts are poor and it's turned into mobile central. Still its done well for NCL
Team Andromeda
Member
This is about Japan, what was once seen as the pinnacle of gaming and now a place where less than 30,000 copies get's you 2nd place. So sad to see what happened to Japan.
Team Andromeda
Member
I'll try and remember that when they're all buying Nintendo. They haven't grown up at all, just turned their back on powerful console gaming and moved to mobile.
So sad, long gone are the days when consoles launched in Japan 1st and one couldn't wait for the latest Japanese import.
Still, what goes around, comes around
kingfey
Banned
Switch is a mobile. Easier to use, during lunch time, breaks, compared to ps4/ps5.
Even for me right now, switch is ideal for my situation. If weren't for my online classes, I would used the switch alot, to play it in the university campus.
Playstation would need hand held console to attract those grown up people.
Havoc2049
Member
It depends on how long the current gen lasts. One of the reasons the X360 sold 1.6 million in Japan was because that generation lasted so long and there were a couple decent exclusive JRPGs in the mix and some exclusive shmups over a long period of time. The X360 never had that great of a single year sales. The OG XB was only in Japan for three years and that launch year was semi decent.
Launch Year Xbox console sales in Japan:
2002 - XB: 327,699 (DOA3 sold approximately 130k copies and Halo 70k)
2005 - X360: 81,770
Team Andromeda
Member
I rather use my phone when out, but I must be an 'adult' then and a big 'kid' when playing the power consoles in the home.
So to see what has become of the Japanese gaming market. Still, the 16-bit and 32-Bit was one hell of a ride, so glad I took part in it.
kingfey
Banned
You just have less stressful job.
Japanese jobs are very stressful.
How the Japanese are putting an end to extreme work weeks
Employees in the country whose brutal office culture has led to several deaths are beginning to rethink the tradition.
www.bbc.com
My job isn't stressful as those Japanese jobs, but its mentally exhausting. Last time I actually had gaming time was August. My weekend for me is college assignments. Its very hard for gaming time.
yurinka
Member
We have no data for PS software in Japan. We only have the Japanese physical sales for the few top games of every week.
But worldwide, physical game sales are only 4% of Sony's gaming division revenue. While the other parts of PS software (digital game sales, add-on and network services) combined are 65% of their gaming division revenue. Which is the same, physical game sales are only 6.36% of Sony's software revenue.
So physical games sales aren't relevant for PlayStation's performance. And even less looking at Japan, when the top market for PS is EMEA and their first country for them is USA. The console market -specially outside Nintendo- is slowly shifting from physial to digital sales, and add-on content and game network services are growing too.
And talking about growing, if we look at the whole gaming market F2P and mobile (smartphone + tablets) these years are growing and will continue growing way more than consoles and PC, and already are bigger than console+PC. Specially in Asia. Same goes with the physical vs digital software share worldwide for the whole gaming market, specially pushed by mobile digital is becoming way more popular than digital worldwide:
And hey, Japan makes nearly a quarter of that worlwide mobile gaming revenue:
https://sensortower.com/blog/japan-mobile-games-market-spotlight
We also know that this growth of F2P and mobile is way bigger in Asia than in the west. So even if we don't have the complete data it's fair to assume that Japan also have been moving from physical to digital and from console to mobile. And that Japanese physical sales represent only a very small, non representative, portion of the market and specially in the case of Sony.
Woopah
Member
What do you think happened to it? It used to be the second biggest country for gaming devices and it still is.
Team Andromeda
Member
Yeah... Try being a ward nurse during a pandemic
Team Andromeda
Member
It used to be a country where console games used to sell great and a country that embraced powerful consoles. Now its mobile central
Woopah
Member
Japan has gone for the platform with the games it's interested in, just like all the other countries. The Gameboy outsold it's more powerful competitors. The PS2 outsold it's more powerful competitors.
The Wii did start better than the PSP, but when Monster Hunter took off and the PSP started getting lots of games that Japan was interested then the Sony machine did way better (even beating the DS in some periods).
Now Switch is getting games that Japan is interested in, and so that is doing well.
Software is always the most important factor, more than power.
Japan doesn't change that much from the past.
Top selling games are still Pokemon, Monster Hunter, Dragon Quest, Smash, Mario Kart, and Mario games(2D, 3D, and Party) but this time more Nintendo games are getting power up such as Splatoon, Zelda, Animal Crossing, and etc while Final Fantasy franchise is doing the opposite.
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Lucifers Beard
Member
Japan isn’t really the market for these games and never has been. I don’t think this is a useful metric for the full success of the game.
Max Payne’s Baretta
Banned
Shhhhhhhh
Team Andromeda
Member
NCL has always done well in Japan, but remember the days when FF, BioHazard would sell millions in Japan alone?
Team Andromeda
Member
Japan used to be the country that bought consoles in their droves, long gone those days are. Now it's all mobile (and I class the Switch as mobile )
Woopah
Member
Japan bought the PS1 and PS2 because of the software available on it. It also bought the DS, PSP, 3DS and Switch because of the software available on it.
The smartphone market and dedicated video game device market are very very different. There's a reason every professional video game device market tracker (NPD, Media Create, Famitsu, GfK etc.) tracks PS5, Switch and Xbox Series but not mobile phones in their reports.
kingfey
Banned
I feel sorry for you. That must be tough to work with annoying people.
Good luck. Hope you have the strength to last until this shitty pandemic ends.
Team Andromeda
Member
I seem to remember Japan buying lots of Famicom, PC Eng and Super Famicom games. There was gaming in Japan, even before SONY.
Team Andromeda
Member
Thanks
. I think Amazon warehouse workers or the ones on the tills at the supermarkets had it worse myself. It's not just Japan that needs to deal with stress at work
next week
Woopah
Member
Sorry I'm not sure I'm understanding your point here. I'm not saying that Sony created gaming in Japan, I'm saying that the success of a system in Japan is always decided by software not power.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
To me they should ONLY be pleased when they pass or at least come close to 500,000 that the OG Xbox did.
Spirit Icana
Member
Nintendo is the only ones really servicing Japan right now, so it's no surprise they're reaping the large benefits. If your Japanese, buying a PS5 is hard. Finding a new game you want to play on it, even harder!
Ring Fit Adventure is a console game, not a portable one. I don't think Switch's success should be looked at in that vacuum too much. Wii was doing very well in Japan too, until the dry spell kicked in and the games stopped coming. The portable nature of Switch certainly helps the console blend better with the busy lives of our Japanese friends going to school or work, and the success stories are largely titles that work well in that quick pick up and play environment. But games like Fatal Frame which charted here are likely being played as a console game. Maybe the large amount of users picking up Switch for Smash, Animal, Kart, or whatever, are bleeding into some of the core games like that which require more time investment --benefits of a large userbase. And there's Splatoon, which succeeded on Wii U as well, and its multiplayer is largely tethered to the internet. There is a lot of factors to consider with the machines dominance in Japan and I don't think its just a simple matter of Switch being portable and Playstation 4/5 isn't.
But the Playstation ecosystem is starving right now, and that leaves room for Nintendo to say to that audience they're the place to play, cause we got more games coming --including Splatoon 3 with online play, in-house Falcom games, and Bayonetta 3!
Ring Fit Adventure is a console game, not a portable one. I don't think Switch's success should be looked at in that vacuum too much. Wii was doing very well in Japan too, until the dry spell kicked in and the games stopped coming. The portable nature of Switch certainly helps the console blend better with the busy lives of our Japanese friends going to school or work, and the success stories are largely titles that work well in that quick pick up and play environment. But games like Fatal Frame which charted here are likely being played as a console game. Maybe the large amount of users picking up Switch for Smash, Animal, Kart, or whatever, are bleeding into some of the core games like that which require more time investment --benefits of a large userbase. And there's Splatoon, which succeeded on Wii U as well, and its multiplayer is largely tethered to the internet. There is a lot of factors to consider with the machines dominance in Japan and I don't think its just a simple matter of Switch being portable and Playstation 4/5 isn't.
But the Playstation ecosystem is starving right now, and that leaves room for Nintendo to say to that audience they're the place to play, cause we got more games coming --including Splatoon 3 with online play, in-house Falcom games, and Bayonetta 3!
Woopah
Member
Credit to Hiska-kun for the graphs below. Hopefully they give you some context and I'm happy to answer any questions you have.
In general:
Xbox Series: Way above most people's expectations, while also being tiny in the grand scheme of things
Switch: Pretty crazy strong sales for a system that is 4.5 years old, and about to pass 3DS + Wii U combined. Could pass the DS one day. However, in recent weeks it has not doing quite as well as some expected (I expected it do better in 2021 than in did in 2020, but now that's looking not too likely with the restricted OLED supply).
PS5: Nestled nicely between PS3 and PS4, but as in every country the sales are about supply not demand
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Astral Dog
Member
Nintendo caters to both audiences who love handheld gaming and console in a smart way, its not like Sony didn't tried with the Vita, but unless PS5 was a portable(and thats not a good idea) there is nothing they can do until the exclusives like FFXVI arrive.
Remember the Nintendo Switch was a big risk, it just paid off very well ,it could have bombed. Nintendo puts the japanese market as a priority, Sony is a more global brand.
Woopah
Member
A portable win the same line up as the PS5 would not do any better. The problem for Sony is they have a third-party focused strategy and that for the past decade or so Japanese publishers on the whole have not been that good at creating appealing software for their domestic market.
Getting FF16 as an exclusive is a great move, but we don't when that will arrive. Maybe Forspoken blows up in Japan, maybe Pragmata does. Maybe the "biggest ever title" that both Bandai and Koei Tecmo are talking about are going to be PS5 only and be the new hit franchises in Japan. That's what Sony needs.
xbox ss is doing relatively well, but the series x has sold as many this year but has been basically out of stock for monhs, plus you're talking about 50k units, not exactly an earth-shaking number outside of compared to Xbox one
Astral Dog
Member
Thats what i mean Sony PlayStation brand has a more global appeal,its not like they have to change their biggest series like Uncharted, The Last of Us and God of War to appeal to the japanese market since they sell so so well in the west, normally Japanese publishers come crawling to PlayStation anyways because there is NO competition from Xbox.
Nintendo is a wild card,their games appeal in japan,they just happen to be popular in the west as well(but look at 3ds it did better in japan while just ok in the west)nobody, not even themselves expected the Switch to become this big
This is the xbox split by sku
It's very much still demand constrained but you can't say that sales are purely Series S.
Woopah
Member
Switch is bigger in North America and Asia while PlayStation is bigger in Europe. I don't think its right to say that PlayStation is more global than Switch.
Nintendo games don't "just happen" to be popular in the West, they are specifically designed to be "fun for everyone" and popular worldwide. Yes they face less competition from other publishers in Japan than they do elsewhere, but that's more third parties' doing that Nintendo's doing.
KingGhidorah
Banned
I think when Sony shut down their Japan Studio, that pretty much tells you that they don't really care about Japan market anymore....the sad irony is that Japan Studio is the co-developer of Demon's Souls. A few months later Sony bought Blue Point the American studio who remakes Demon's Souls....that's a big middle finger to the Japan Studio team
Team Andromeda
Member
You seemed too. I grew up in the era of when Japan loved proper under the TV consoles with terrible short leads (until the Saturn) and where games sold well in the charts.
Sadly those days are long gone
Goalus
Member
In countless UK boxed sales threads I was told the opposite. Physical game sales appear to be the most important performance indicator, while e.g. player counts are worth nothing because it's mostly reviewers and influencers who drive these numbers.
Woopah
Member
You said that Japan used to love powerful platforms and this has changed. My argument is that Japan loves the platforms with the games they are interested in and that this hasn't changed. Why is it "sad" that Japan plays games on the TV and on the go?
And games do sell well in charts. Just by looking at the physical sales in the latest top 30 chart we can see that BOTW is nearly 2 million. Momotaro and Ring Fit are over that figure. Splatoon is over 3 million and Pokémon, Mario Kart and Smash Bros. are over 4 million. These are very strong figures for a single country.
Yes it is true that the industry is not the same as it was in the 90s and early 00s. There are fewer platforms, fewer releases and digital exists. But these are global changes not Japan-specific ones.